Families wait in hope over new move to save Auchinlee for year
A PLAN to save Auchinlee care home from closing for a year was drawn up at a crunch meeting in Kilmory Castle last Thursday, as relatives protested outside that moving elderly residents miles away, beyond Argyll, could shorten their lives.
Demonstrators lined the entrance to Argyll and Bute Council HQ to fight the closure of the loss-making 24bed specialist dementia facility in Campbeltown, used by many Mid Argyll residents and their families.
Auchinlee’s owner, CrossReach, a social care charity linked to the Church of Scotland, and Argyll and Bute Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) stated it was unsustainable due to six-figure losses, including the high cost of recruiting agency workers to cover staff shortages. An eleventhhour reprieve in mid-December postponed a final decision for three months, after CrossReach and the HSCP agreed to share the losses.
Last week their representatives met Argyll and Bute Council and the region’s MSP Michael Russell to discuss the home’s fate, alongside campaigners from the Save Auchinlee action group.
Hilary Rankin, whose mum Moira McArthur, 86, is a resident of Auchinlee, said: ‘I am here because they are evicting my mother from her home and may as well be digging her grave. If she is moved outwith Campbeltown, she will turn her face to the wall and wait to die. My mother has given financially to the Church of Scotland since she was a young woman of 23.’
Eva Graham, whose 86-year-old mother,
They are evicting my mother from her home and may as well be digging her grave
Foncie Catterson, is also in Auchinlee, agreed. She said: ‘My mother is not leaving Campbeltown to die elsewhere where we cannot see her. My mother could die on that road. The idea of putting a dementia patient 130 miles away beggars belief. She has not got the powers of reason. She will not see familiar faces. It could make her dementia 10 times worse.
‘They must be the most vulnerable members of our society. To me, it is a human rights issue. All I want is time to get something in place.’
Similarly, Louise McLean, protesting for her 96-year-old mum, Louie Harrison, in Auchinlee, said: ‘It is not just for the 14 residents – this is for the whole of Kintyre. It was gifted to Campbeltown for the care of the elderly.’
Fellow campaigner Elizabeth McMillan said: ‘I am here to support the care in the community of our relatives, and probably ourselves in the future. The Church of Scotland should hang its head in shame.
‘It has the money to save Auchinlee or reprieve the home until something else is found for the residents.’
Afterwards, the action group announced: ‘A proposal has been put forward at the meeting that the HSCP, the Integrated Joint Board and CrossReach come together to agree to share the costs of keeping Auchinlee open for one year.
‘The final outcome of these discussions will be known over the next few weeks. This is an encouraging proposal which gives us hope, but just a proposal it is nonetheless.
‘The group will continue to put pressure on all relevant bodies to ensure a positive outcome for the residents and staff of Auchinlee.’
Argyll and Bute Council added CrossReach and the HSCP will put a recommendation for their boards to decide in March. A spokesman said: ‘Approval of this recommendation will see care at Auchinlee continue until March 31, 2018.
‘During this time, the HSCP will work, with input from CrossReach and the Save Auchinlee action group, to find a longer-term, sustainable solution for care provision for people who need it in the Kintyre area.’